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Americans received yet another breath of fresh air on Wednesday with the latest GDP report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) – the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity – grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the second quarter.
President Trump celebrated the news in an early morning Truth Social post. “2Q GDP JUST OUT: 3%, WAY BETTER THAN EXPECTED! ‘Too Late’ MUST NOW LOWER THE RATE. No Inflation! Let people buy, and refinance, their homes!”
His call for interest rate cuts has gone unanswered since he took office, but his persistence in making life more affordable for Americans has remained steadfast.
While signing legislation to prevent struggling veterans from foreclosure, the 47th president expanded on the importance of slashing interest rates. “What you do is you lower them, and let’s see if there’s inflation. Right now, there’s no inflation. Everybody thought there would be. All we have is billions of dollars of cash pouring into our country, from other countries that took advantage of us for many, many years.”
He continued, “We’re keeping the rates high, and it’s hurting people from buying houses, and we don’t want that.”
Trump then took aim at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. “Each point that this gentleman keeps up costs us $365 billion a year … if you bring it down a point, we save 365. We should be the lowest interest rate, and we’re not, we’re 38, number 38, because of the Fed.”
He acknowledged the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting and expressed doubt that rates would be cut, and as predicted, no rate cuts were made.
Speaking to the press outside the White House, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett remarked, “It’s really one of the best GDP announcements or releases that you could imagine because there’s blockbuster growth – way above expectation – and there’s also a real, real almost collapse in inflation,” noting the 1.5 percent decrease, which hit the Fed’s 2.1 percent inflation target.
Hassett added that high personal income growth, at 3 percent, on top of low inflation and high GDP growth, was undoubtedly a “sweet spot” for a GDP release.